4. A second Excursion from Capernaum. The Son of Man manifested as Compassionate High-Priest at Nain’s Gate and Simon’s Table; but at the same time as the Holy Messiah as opposed to the Offence taken by John, the People, and the Pharisees.
Luk_7:11-50
a. The Young Man At Nain (Luk_7:11-17)
(Gospel on the 16th Sunday after Trinity.)
11And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many [a good many]of his disciples went with him, and much people. 12Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother,13and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. Andwhen the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. 14And he came and touched the bier [the coffin]: and they that bare him stood still. And he said,Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 15And he that was dead [the dead man] sat up, and began to speak.And he delivered him to his mother. 16And there came a fear [an astonishment] on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and,That God hath visited his people. 17And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_7:11. The day after.—By this noting of the time, Luke gives us full liberty to make the raising of the young man at Nain to follow immediately after the healing of the servant of the centurion at Capernaum. It took place
ôῇ ἑîῆò
sc.
ἡìÝñᾳ
. If with some we were obliged to read
ôῷ
, then surely
êáèåîῆò
(
÷ñüíῳ
) would have followed. See De Wette ad loc.
Nain.—
ÍáÀí
, perhaps
ðָàéִï
, now only a little hamlet, Nein, only inhabited by a few families, then a small town in the tribe of Issachar, hard by the source of the brook Kishon, not far from Endor, two and a half leagues from Nazareth. The name signifies “The lovely,” perhaps on account of the pleasant situation in the plain of Esdraelon. Except in this passage it does not occur in the sacred history. The fathers Eusebius and Jerome knew it as a village two Roman miles southward from Tabor. See Winer in voce.
Of His disciples.—We may understand here
ìáèçôáß
in a more extended sense of the word, without thereby excluding the twelve apostles, who had been the day before called and consecrated, and to whose further training and strengthening in faith such a miracle as that now to be accomplished at the very beginning of their apostolic life was as desirable as beneficent. The multitude doubtless consisted partly at least of hearers of the Sermon on the Mount, who now were to see anew how the Saviour fulfilled His own precept, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.”
Luk_7:12. Carried out.—Comp. Act_5:6. Graves were commonly outside the towns.
Ôåèíçêþò
was apparently omitted by A. 54. because it was of course understood, for which reason there is no ground to put it in brackets, (Lachmann.) Respecting the variations of the reading
áὕôç ÷Þñá
(sc.
ἦí
), which moreover only slightly change the sense, see Meyer ad loc.
Luk_7:13. The Lord.—An appellation peculiarly frequent in Luke; comp. Luk_10:1; Luk_11:39; Luk_12:42; Luk_13:15; Luk_22:61, especially adapted to indicate the majesty revealing itself in His discourse and action. Bengel has a fine remark: “Sublimis hœc appellatio jam Luca et Johanne scribente usitatior et notior erat, quam Matthœo scribente. Marcus medium tenet. Initio doceri et confirmari debuit hoc fidei caput, deinde prœsupponi potuit.”
Weep not.—As with Jairus, his fear, so with this widow her grief is first allayed, before the Lord displayed His miraculous might,
ἐóðëáã÷íßóèç
. Comp. Mat_9:36. It is the manifestation of the compassionate High-priest, which is so conspicuously dwelt on by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews also, kindred as he is in spirit with Paul and Luke (Heb_2:16; Heb_2:18; Heb_4:14).
Luk_7:14. The coffin (
óïñüò
). It was open above. Since the bearers and the funeral train had of themselves stopped at the approach and the address of Jesus, who certainly was not wholly unknown to them, it is not necessary with Meyer to remark in their instantly standing still a trace of the extraordinary. “Miracula prœter necessitatem non sunt multiplicanda.” If the bearers also felt compassion for the mother, it is more probable that they themselves expected help.
Young man.—The mighty word of the Prince of Life; comp. Luk_8:56; Joh_11:44. The instant rising and speaking of the dead, shows that not only life but also strength and health have returned, and the Lord, by giving him back to his mother, completes the miracle of His power by the highest act of His love. It is remarkable how the Saviour immediately after their restoration, manifests a visible care as to the dead raised by Him. To the daughter of Jairus He causes food at once to be given; Lazarus He causes to be relieved of his grave-clothes.
Luk_7:16. An astonishment.—Not with all, it is true, equally deep, and perhaps not wholly free from superstition, but yet so far of genuine stamp as it led to a thankful glorifying of God and the Lord Jesus. That they extol Him as a prophet will not surprise us if we consider that the prophets not only foretold future things, but also performed miracles, and among them the raising of the dead.
Hath visited.—Comp. Luk_1:68. In respect to the æsthetical explanation of the miracle, there is a beautiful homily of Herder’s, which deserves to be compared.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The raising of the dead belongs in the fullest sense of the word to that class of
óçìåῖá
, which serve as symbols of the life-giving activity of our Lord, Joh_11:25-26. They do not become fully conceivable unless we hold fast to the union of the Divine and human in the person of Jesus, and to the certainty of His own resurrection. To consider the three dead persons whose resurrection is related to us as only apparently dead, is rationalistic caprice. But even though we acknowledge on good grounds the reality of their physical dying, it is by no means implied in this, that all receptivity for the influence of the miraculous word of the Saviour had departed from them. From the very fact that they heard this miraculous voice (allowing their raising to be once established by a purely historical criticism) we may, it seems to us, infer the opposite. For this voice makes its way, not to the body, but to the spirit, of the departed. And who now will decide when the separation of the spirit from the body is irrevocable, and their re-union utterly impossible? This only takes place when the bodily organism is wholly destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, and this is in these instances by no means the case. It is not mutilated, wholly decayed bodies which the Lord revives, but bodies that have just died, whose corporeal organism needs not to be re-created and restored, but only to be reanimated. “There was still a thoroughly trodden way between the corpse and the spirit which had left it, and so much is clear, that the corpse of the departed in its earliest stage is very different from a mummy or from a corrupt mass.” (Lange.) This remark is perhaps of no interest for those who conceive the connection between soul and body as external, such as there is between bird and cage; but the more deeply modern science considers, along with the undeniable distinction, the intimate connection also of spirit and matter, the less venturous appears the conjecture that the spirit immediately after death stands as yet in a closer connection with its scarcely-abandoned dwelling-place than many are disposed to believe. This appears especially to have been the case with the dead persons whom Jesus raised. Departed in a time in which life and immortality had not yet been brought to light, they could at most surrender themselves to death with composure, without longing after death; they were moreover still bound to the earth by holy bonds of blood or sympathy. If ever tears, prayers, and entreaties might still fetter a spirit to the earth or call forth a longing after life, it was here the case, and scarcely do they hear the voice of Omnipotence when they can and will obey.
2. If, therefore, the possibility of the raising of the dead, as related in the Gospel, cannot be denied per se, its reality is sufficiently established. The Saviour Himself enumerates
íåêñïὶ ἐãåßñïíôáé
(Luk_7:22) among the signs of His redeeming activity, and what had already been performed by the prophets, beseemed Him, the highest Ambassador of the Father, yet more. Of the witnesses of these facts there were many, and those not exposed to suspicion, and even in a later period, testimonies as to this point are not wanting. See particularly the fragment of Quadratus, an Evangelist of the apostolic age, in Eusebius (H. E. iii. 3), who moreover declares that this apostolical writer was yet extant in his time, and was known to him as well as to the most of his brethren. Jerome also (Catal. Script, Luke 19) gives an account of it. When this account was written the youthful persons raised by the Saviour might have been still living.—The strongest proof of their truth lies however in the internal character of these narratives of miracles. Whoever, with freedom from prejudice, reads the account of the raising at Nain or at Bethany will always repeat the exclamation: ce n’est pas ainsi qu’on invente. As respects the silence of Matthew and Mark with reference to this miracle, it is difficult to give any other answer than conjecture. Perhaps it arises from the fact that the name of the youth or his mother was not more particularly known. The silence of Matthew could also be explained if we were at liberty to assume that in this expedition from Capernaum he had perhaps remained behind a single day in order to finish the settlement of his affairs. That of Mark is sufficiently explained by the fact, that his Gospel is laid out on a much more limited scale. In view of the great abundance of matter, moreover, no one of the narrators undertook to be complete, and the distinction into more ordinary and more difficult miracles, which latter especially they were not to pass over if these should not be controverted, was to them in their simplicity apparently wholly unknown.
3. In comparing the raisings of the dead on the part of the Saviour with those of the prophets on the one hand and those of the apostles on the other, there comes into view as well a remarkable distinction as a beautiful agreement. The Saviour’s raisings of the dead are attended with an exalted composure and majesty and acting from His own completeness of might, before which that tension and strain of all the powers of the soul which we more or less observe in the prophets and apostles, wholly vanishes. What to us appears supernatural, for Him appears the highest nature.
4. The event at the gate of Nain might be called one of the most striking proofs of the consoling doctrine of a providentia specialissima. The time of the death and the burial of the young man—the road taken by the funeral train—the meeting with the Lord directly at the decisive moment—nothing of all this is casual here. Time, place, and circumstances, all are ordered to reach a glorious goal; comfort to the afflicted; glory for the Lord; revelation of the quickening power of God.
5. The Saviour’s raising the dead was on the one hand a symbol of the life which He causes to arise in the spiritually dead world through His word and His spirit; on the other hand, a prophecy of that which in the
ἐó÷Üôç ἡìÝñá
shall take place in far greater measure. Both points of view He Himself conjoins in the strictest manner. Joh_5:24-29.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Nain’s gate, the sanctuary of the glory of God. We see, here has He revealed His glory as: 1. The great Prophet who confirms His preaching with the most astonishing signs; 2. the compassionate High-Priest who dries the tears of the sorrowing; 3. the Prince of life who snatches from the grave its booty.—The journey of the Saviour in the midst of His disciples a perpetual confirmation of His promise, Joh_1:51.—The personal meeting together of the Prince of Life with the spoil of Death.—How Death strives with Life and Life with Death: 1. Death: a. strikes down the most vigorous age; b. rends the holiest bonds; c. occasions the bitterest tears; 2. Life is here: a. revealed; b. restored; c. dedicated to the glory of God.—The meeting of the Saviour with the funeral train a proof of the most special Providence of God.—Nain’s gate, a school for Christian suffering and consolation.—“Weep not:” 1. How easy to use this word; 2. how difficult to obey the injunction; 3. how blessed to dry the tears.—Christ the Life of man: 1. In the creation; 2. in the renovation; 3. in the resurrection.—The resurrection’s word of might: 1. The exalted tone; 2. the mighty working; 3. the God-glorifying echo of this word.—How the Lord: 1. Comforts the sorrowing; 2. awakens the dead; 3. unites the severed.—The dawn of eternity breaking over the gate of Nain.—Glory rendered to God, the best fruit of the miracles of Jesus.—How the word of the Saviour’s might transforms everything: 1. A funeral train into an array of witnesses of His miracles; 2. a bier of the dead into a field of resurrection; 3. a mourning widow into a thankful mother; 4. a public road into a sanctuary of the glory of God.—He who marvels at great faith has also compassion on the deepest misery.—The love of the Lord: 1. A prevenient; 2. a comforting; 3. an all-accomplishing love.—Eph_3:2-6.—The youth raised from the coffin; Jairus’ daughter from the death-bed; Lazarus from the grave.—The journeyings of Christ a gracious visitation of God to His people.—Nain, in a few moments changed from a vale of misery into a vale of beauty (Nain the lovely).—The work of the Lord: 1. On the soul of the mother; 2. on the body of the son.—Spiritually awakened children a gift of the Lord to parents.—Fear and joy here most intimately united.—The renown of the Saviour at this period of history of His life as yet continually on the increase.
Starke:—Genuine Christians follow Christ whether the way goes towards Cana or towards Nain—towards Tabor or towards Golgotha.—Brentius:—The Lord passes over no city with His grace. The day-spring from on high visits even the meanest villages and hamlets at the right time; oh, excellent consolation!—Cramer:—The world is a lovely Nain, but death destroys all pleasure therein.—Weep with them that weep, rejoice with them that rejoice.—Bibl. Wirt.:—Young people should not put the thoughts of death so far from them, but pray with Moses, Psa_90:12.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—How often does the Lord call to one spiritually dead, “Arise”; and he nevertheless continues to he there.—Majus:—Those who are awakened to spiritual life speak with new tongues and walk in a new life.—Osiander:—Upon noble deeds follows a good report, a renowned name.
Lisco:—Christ the Vanquisher of Death: 1. In His gracious affection for man; 2. in His divine might and majesty.—The funeral.—Heubner:—Life presses in; death flies; admirable change: life is victorious over death.—Jesus’ look is even yet directed upon the suffering ones in His church.—“Whoever is afraid of death is afraid of the Lord Jesus.” Scriver.—The joy of reunion.—Arndt:—This history a mirror of sorrow and consolation: 1. A mirror of sorrow: a. Vanity of the world; b. return to the dust; c. the uncertain goal and hour; d. the vanishing of worldly comfort; e. the funeral train, the way of all flesh, processus mortis, 2. A mirror of consolation: a. Christ’s countenance, the friendly countenance of God; b. the compassionate heart of Jesus; c. His gracious voice: “Weep not;” d. His stretching forth the hand; e. His vivifying word.—Fuchs:—The preaching of the young man at Nain to the Christians of our time: 1. Who lives shall die; 2. who dies inherits life.—A glance upon: 1. The dead young man; 2. the weeping widow; 3. the almighty Lord; 4. the astonished people.—Rieger:—Two mighty dominions: 1. A dreary one of death; 2. a joyful one of life.—Petri:—The wholesome knowledge: 1. Of our true need; 2. of the Almighty help of the Lord.—Westermeier:—The funeral train in the gates of Nain: 1. The dead man who is carried out; 2. the mourners who follow after; 3. the Comforter who suddenly appears.
N. B. We may remark that the homiletical treatment of this narrative should be guarded against a too sentimental representation of the death of the young man, the sorrow of the widow, the joy of reunion, and the like. Nothing is easier than in this way to elicit from the hearers a stream of tears, but the sublime simplicity of Luke remains in this also an unsurpassed model, and the development of the specifically Christian element in this Pericope promises more fruit than the fanciful treatment of its merely human or dramatic elements.
